Flushed and pink.
Sonny's cheeks looked best that way, Rafael thought.
Deep and rosy near the upper regions of his cheekbones, covering a span of soft skin that almost met the upturned corners of his lips.
Rafael had always been a man who enjoyed dabbling in the various meanings of colors, what each individual shade of blue or green could share in just the lightening or darkening of its tone.
In court, he favored more somber shades; at home, he let himself indulge in creams and baby blues, lighter colors to further accentuate his lighter mood.
Sonny had that effect on him, he supposed.
Rafael loved colors of all different hues, and tints, and tones.
He loved the color of Sonny's cheeks the most, though.
Flushed and pink.
Gorgeous.
"What are you staring at, Rafi?"
Sonny smiled.
Cheeks full and dimpled.
Flushed and pink.
Rafael had never been so in love.
"Is it this big friggin' hickey you just gave me?" he asked, scratching at the offending bruise with a bony index finger, already coloring over in shades of brilliant purples and blues. "'Cause you know I'm gonna be getting shit for that all morning tomorrow, right?"
"It's not my fault you can't learn to cover them up properly, Sonny," he answered, scoffing.
"Listen, I tried to get Bella to explain concealer to me, but. I don't get the whole make-up thing."
Sonny smirked then, cheeks full once more.
Flushed and pink.
"So it was the hickey, then?"
"No," Rafael said, simply.
"My nipples? I know how much you love my nipples, Rafi, don't even try to deny it."
"Wrong."
"My lips? All I know is that it's gotta be something below eye level, 'cause you haven't looked me in the eye once we finished," Sonny stated, grinning cheekily.
Cheeks full and dimpled.
Flushed and pink.
Rafael was lost.
He felt magnetized to Sonny's cheeks, to their glow; to the happiness, to the love that that dusting of pink and red seemed to weave into the very fabric of Sonny's skin.
He leaned forward, brushed his nose against Sonny's cheek, nuzzled further into the warmth of red and pink.
He let his lips meet Sonny's skin, next.
He kissed at Sonny's cheek, pecked at it – once, twice, three, four times, lips soft as he pressed those kisses into Sonny's skin, below the surface, right next to the red and pink.
When he pulled back, Sonny's cheeks were burning.
Flushed and red.
"My cheeks?"
Rafael nodded, placed his fingertips along the sharp curve of a cheekbone, let them fall in line, one by one.
"Why?"
His fingers were dancing along Sonny's cheeks, a waltz mirrored on either side of his nose and lips.
Cheeks, so flushed and pink.
"Because you look so happy when your cheeks are pink," he whispered, Sonny's own spindly fingers coming to wrap themselves around his wrists as he continued his soft motion across Sonny's skin.
"Because your cheeks are normally pink after we've made love."
"Because sometimes, they still turn pink when you catch me staring, even though we've been together over a year."
"Because your shade of pink is for me."
Because pink and red reminds me of love, and happiness, and that's what you are to me, is what he didn't say.
Because red reminds me of warmth, and that's what I feel every time I wake up with your body pressed against my chest, is what he didn't say.
Because now I can't wear my favorite pink suspenders without thinking of you, and your cheeks, and what being in love feels like, is what he didn't say.
Sonny seemed to know, though.
Sonny surged forward, captured his lips in between his own, cheeks so warm underneath Rafael's palms.
Flushed and pink.
Sonny's cheeks, Sonny's lips, feel like love.
"I love you, Rafi."
Rafael teared their lips apart, pressed a long kiss to the ridge of Sonny's cheekbone, to the skin peeking out between his index finger and thumb, still holding tight to Sonny's face.
"I love you, too, Sonny."
Rafael felt dimples underneath his hands.
Cheeks full.
Flushed and pink.